


Festival

by FrozenSnares



Series: Benefits of Detention [16]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cute, Dancing, F/M, Festivals, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Midsummer, may day, oh well, this is mostly pure fluff now, this series no longer has a plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 18:25:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4315620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrozenSnares/pseuds/FrozenSnares
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rickon takes Shireen to her first Midsummer Festival.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Festival

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Direwaggle42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Direwaggle42/gifts).



> This is mostly based on Scandinavian May Day/Midsummer festivals.
> 
> Thanks to Direwaggle42 for the suggestion (a long time ago; I'm only just writing it now)!

“And you’re sure we have to dress up?”

Shireen was standing in Rickon’s room, looking around at the dresses his mom had pulled out for tomorrow. She was looking between a few of them; they were all old-fashioned, but very well-made. They all looked approximately the same: with a under dress that had puffed sleeves and another that went on top, sometimes with a split skirt. Shireen was eyeing a green dress with gold decorations.

“It’s supposed to be part of the fun,” Rickon said. He wasn’t bothering with looking over outfits for tomorrow, so he just lounged back on his bed. “Everyone’s going to be dressed up.”

Grinding her teeth, Shireen looked over the dresses again. “And we didn’t do this last year because…?”

“You were graduating,” Rickon said, as if that explained everything. “I wasn’t going to ask you to drive to Winterfell for Midsummer Festival. But now that you’re here, you’ve got to participate. I mean, everyone’s coming up for it.”

Shireen went over to Rickon, sitting on his bed next to him. “Are you going to dress up?” she asked.

“Obviously,” he said, leaning over to press a kiss to her cheek. “If you’re going to be going around looking like a princess, then I gotta look worthy of you.”

“A princess?” Shireen questioned.

Rickon rolled his eyes, placing an arm over her shoulders. “Yup,” he said. “I mean, you always look like a princess, but now you’ll look like an old-timey princess.”

Shireen shook her head at him. Rickon was still looking at her intently, and the brightness of his eyes was making her heart pound. Slowly, she leaned into him, kissing him gently. Rickon returned the kiss, reaching for her waist and pulling her closer. Shireen let out a small noise against his mouth, pressing into him. Holding her tight, Rickon moved his tongue into her mouth, sweeping the inside of her mouth. His hand slid around her back, moving down to grip her ass and pull her closer. They were still kissing on his bed when the door opened loudly.

Jumping apart, Rickon quickly moved his hands away from Shireen’s body, and Shireen sat up to feign interest in the dresses. Then, Catelyn walked into the room. “Did you find one you like?” she asked, sitting on the edge of the bed near the dresses. “I can go find more if you’d like.”

“Oh no,” Shireen said quickly. “I absolutely adore this green one. Should I try it on before tomorrow?”

“Only if you’d like,” Catelyn said, lifting the dress in question and holding it up. “They were Sansa’s old dresses, so they should be fine.”

“Okay,” Shireen said. “Thank you so much for letting me come along.”

“Of course, dear,” Catelyn said, rearranging the other dresses. “Remember that we’re heading into town early tomorrow, so get up early.” She gathered up the other dresses, leaving the green one behind, and left the room.

Rickon grabbed Shireen about the waist and pulled her back down to his bed, earning a small squeal from her. He combed her hair away from her face and pressed his forehead against hers. “Now where were we?” he asked, smirking at her.

Shireen felt her face grow hot meeting his gaze. He had an intense look in his eyes, and Shireen’s body went weak. “I’m pretty sure your parents gave me a guest room for a reason,” she said. “And I think that reason was so you wouldn’t be grabbing my ass at every opportunity.”

“I’m pretty sure that you’re thinking far too innocently for this,” Rickon whispered. He pulled her flush against his chest, hooking her leg over his hips.

Shireen grinned, rocking her hips the smallest amount against his. “Either way, I have to go to bed,” she said, winking at him before hopping off his bed.

Rickon let out a small groan. “Always with the teasing.”

After holding up the dress to herself, Shireen went back to Rickon’s side, pressing a kiss to his lips. “I can send Shaggydog in here to keep you company,” she suggested.

“He likes you better anyway,” Rickon said, rolling his eyes.

\--

Shireen woke up early the next day, eager to put on the dress and see how it looked. Just as Catelyn had said, it fit her just fine, tying up in the back, which Shireen managed with some difficulty. She twirled around in her room a few times, watching the skirts of the dress flair out around her. After quite some time, she left the room finding Catelyn and Ned in the living room.

“Oh, you look beautiful, dear,” Catelyn said, holding out a hand to her. Catelyn was wearing a similar gown, but hers was in greys. Shireen tried her best to curtsy to her. “Come, let me braid your hair.”

Sitting down with Rickon’s parents, Shireen sat still while Catelyn braided her hair into a complicated pattern. A few times, Ned got up to open the door for his other children. Robb stopped by first, clad in and old-fashioned doublet and breeches. His son Brynden followed him in, wearing the same outfit. Jeyne was in a tan and pink dress, bringing up the rear. Robb greeted all of them warmly, excited for the day ahead. Next came Sansa and Sandor, looking very much like a princess and knight. Shireen grinned at them, and Sansa showed her how she had braided her own hair.

Catelyn finished up Shireen’s hair, insisting that Jeyne come to have hers done as well. The rest of the Starks slowly arrived, all in medieval dress, and Catelyn had Shireen go fetch Rickon so they could head down. She slowly entered the room, hoping to surprise him and jump on his bed. He was awake, though, and struggling with the ties of his jerkin.

“This is what we get for using the actual replicas,” he said, glancing over to Shireen. “Seriously, why can’t we just use zippers like everyone else?”

“It’s more authentic this way,” Shireen said. She slowly walked up to him, swatting his hands away and re-tying his tunic and jerkin. Rickon thanked her with a kiss before going to slip into his boots.

“I suppose the whole family’s here?” Rickon asked, standing up and readjusting his clothes. “And we all look like we just popped out of some epic fantasy novel?”

Shireen grinned. “Yup.”

“Excellent,” Rickon said. He led Shireen back to the family room. His family was a mishmosh about the room, having loud discussions. The main one was Arya telling anyone who would listen that she wasn’t wearing a dress because her mom used to force her to wear them every year. The secondary conversation was Brynden arguing with Robb and Jeyne about getting a sword this year. Once they were all settled and Ned had looked over all of them, with a small shake of his head at Arya, they packed into the cars and headed into town. 

“You know, we just look like a bunch of crazy people going to a ren fair,” Jojen said, looking out a window. “But do we have to bring the dogs every year?”

“Summer loves the festival,” Bran said, looking over to Jojen. “I can’t just leave him.”

Summer barked happily from the back of the car, causing Shaggydog to join him. There was a small commotion while Catelyn told them to quiet the animals, which only happened when Shireen turned around to pet Shaggydog for the rest of the ride. Once they parked in a massive field, the dogs bolted out of the cars, running around. Rickon helped Shireen out, seeing her having difficulties managing her skirts. Almost immediately, Sansa looped her arms through Shireen’s and handed her a small pouch.

“For charms,” she said. “They’re hidden _everywhere_ , and you can trade them in for stuff later.”

Shireen looked into the empty bag. “What do they look like?”

“Oh, like carved wood and rocks,” Sansa said. “You just need to keep an eye out for—Oh!” Sansa bent down in the grass, picking up a tiny wooden object. It looked a bit like a shark’s tooth, but there were designs carved into it. She held it up proudly for Shireen to see.

“So you just trade them for things?” Shireen asked.

Jojen and Bran met up next to them. “Well, back in the day it was said that you could put them under your pillow tonight, and you’ll dream of your future husband,” Bran said, panting a bit with the effort of his crutches.

“No, that was the flowers,” Jojen corrected. “You put seven different flowers under your pillow. With the charms, you tossed them into a well, and you’d see his reflection.”

Bran just shook his head. “Too much lore to remember,” he said. “And all for young girls… I swear, this used to be a fertility festival.”

“But that was before they added the jousting!” Robb called.

“To crown the Queen of Love and Beauty?” Arya stuck out her tongue at the idea.

“Now, it’s just a raffle for the crown,” Rickon explained, taking Shireen’s hand as they entered the festival. “Apparently, jousting got too violent. Come on.” Rickon pulled Shireen further into the festival grounds, walking her over to various booths, so she could look at all the things.

Just as he had said, nearly everyone was dressed up, wearing gowns and outfits that varied widely in levels of décor. Shireen was enjoying her time, finding charms all over the place and getting quite into the search. She would point them out often enough that Shaggydog began bringing some to her.

“Oh, we should get him a present!” Shireen told Rickon.

Rickon made a face. “Shaggy really doesn’t like dressing up,” he said. “And they don’t really sell things for dogs.”

Still, Shireen managed to find a booth selling old trinkets, expertly finding a bandana with the Stark sigil on it. When the booth owner learned Rickon’s last name, he tried to give it to them for free, but Rickon insisted on paying for it. Then, Shireen tied it around Shaggydog’s neck. To Rickon’s immense surprise, he didn’t immediately try to shake it off. Shireen smiled down at Shaggydog, petting him between the ears until Shaggydog placed yet another charm in her hand.

“I think he’s going to find all of them for you,” Rickon said. “You won’t even have to do any work.”

“What do you exchange the charms for?” Shireen asked, looking into her bag of charms. It was really quite full.

Rickon shrugged. “I never really checked,” he said. “I mostly like this for the food.”

Shireen grinned. “Traditional foods?”

They joined up with the rest of the Stark family, taking up a large patch of grass to spread out and collect food for eating. At Sansa’s insistence, Shireen tried the lemon cakes, and Rickon brought her actual food. They joked about, watching Arya and Gendry learning how to swordfight with Brynden attempting to shove his way in. Ned and Catelyn were leaning against each other, watching their family mill about. After a while, Robb and Jeyne wandered off before Sansa and Sandor followed them, mostly at Sansa’s urging.

“Where are they going?” Shireen asked.

“To get married,” Bran said, leaning back slightly. Jojen moved behind his back to be Bran’s pillow.

“But they’re—” Shireen started slowly.

“Not _real_ married,” Jojen explained. “It’s just another traditional thing… You get ‘married’ today, representing the blossoming of new life or something. Everyone gets married.”

Shireen still had a confused look on her face, so Bran said, “Just go marry your girlfriend, Rickon.”

Rickon’s face flushed. “I don’t want to get forced into that dance,” he said.

“You say it like you don’t know it already,” Arya said, sitting down next to them. “You know that Sansa forced all of you to learn it while she was practicing every year.”

With some persistence from his siblings, Rickon eventually took Shireen over to watch the mock weddings. They looked on as Sansa and Sandor got married. Then, the two of them left to begin an interesting dance around the maypole that had been put up. After they finished one circuit, others joined in, cheering as Sansa and Sandor got closer to the center, getting wrapped up in the ribbons before breaking free, laughing. Shireen turned to Rickon. “So it’s always the same dance?”

“Basically,” Rickon shrugged. “Sometimes people change it a little bit, but everyone already knows this one.”

“How does it go?” Shireen asked.

With an overly dramatic sigh, Rickon positioned Shireen in front of him: her back to his front. He held onto both of her hands and began stepping gently forward and occasionally side to side. When they changed direction, Shireen tripped a bit over her skirts, but Rickon lifted her, twirling her around before beginning the steps again. After a while, Shireen caught the rhythm, leaning against Rickon comfortably while they danced off to the sides of the mock weddings.

“Ah! The young bride and groom!” someone called.

Rickon tried to ignore the call, but Shireen turned sharply. Soon, they were being beckoned forward to get married. Rickon was given a cloak to place over her shoulders, and Shireen grinned at him. Then, they were led forward to the maypole. Carefully, Rickon placed them in position before the music started up, and he led her in their circuit around the maypole. Once they finished the first circuit, others joined in. Shireen laughed, spinning around as Rickon made sure she didn’t fall. When the dance was ending, Rickon lifted her by the waist, spinning her around before they got tangled up in the ribbons.

Shireen smiled up at him. “That was fun,” she said, leaning against his chest. “I didn’t know you could dance.”

“I don’t think that counts,” Rickon said, moving some of the ribbons away so the other married people could dance. He led Shireen back through the festival, letting her look through everything again. Shireen’s gaze was caught by the crown of winter roses. They were beautifully woven together, and Rickon wrapped his arms over her shoulders. “Those are the last roses that will bloom this year.”

“They’re so pretty,” Shireen whispered.

Rickon pressed a kiss to her cheek. “They used to be used to crown the Queen of Love and Beauty,” he explained. “Do you want it?”

Shireen leaned back, looking up at Rickon. He leaned down to press a kiss to her lips. Shireen smiled up at him. “I think I’m okay,” she said. “After all, I still need to figure out what to do with these charms.”

Rickon quickly tapped her ass, earning a small squeak from her. “Go run off to find Sansa, then,” he said. “She’ll know.”

Patting him on the cheek in a weak attempt at slapping him, Shireen skipped off. She found Sansa a few minutes later, looking over some baked goods.

“Lemon cakes for the road?” Shireen asked.

Sansa gave her a smile. “You know me so well,” she said. Just at that moment, Shaggydog arrived, carrying another charm for Shireen. Thanking the dog, Shireen rubbed his between the ears before he ran off again. “How many do you have now?”

Shireen sheepishly held out the pouch. “Shaggy’s been finding them for me,” she admitted.

“My gods,” Sansa exclaimed, looking through the pouch. “I should have given you a bigger bag.”

“Yeah, but what do I do with them?” Shireen asked.

Sansa took Shireen’s arm. “We’re going to go shopping.”

\--

Now with a bunch of trinkets and accessories in bags, Sansa and Shireen returned to the Stark’s claimed area, putting away their things. Shireen kept a small bag on her way to meet up with Rickon for the night. He reached for her hand immediately, pulling her close to kiss her. Then, he pulled her over to a different area where five massive piles of wood had been set up.

“Bonfires,” he explained. “We go around and pick which on we think will burn the brightest.”

Shireen and Rickon picked a pile, sitting a few yards away from it. They were joined by a few other members of his family, including Gendry who was showing off the warhammer he bought. Arya kept asking what he expected to do with a warhammer, but Gendry countered by asking about the sword she bought. Just before the lighting of the fires, Shireen turned to Rickon. She held out the bag to him. “I got you a present.”

“Hm?” Rickon leaned into her, as she dug into the bag.

“They offered to turn some of the charms into jewelry,” she explained. Then, she pulled out two leather cordswith charm pendants on them. “They were the only two that matched.”

Rickon smiled at her. “You’re going to turn me into someone who wears jewelry?”

Shireen pouted. “You don’t _have_ to wear it…”

“Yes, I do,” Rickon said. He pulled the leather cord over his head, twisting the pendant in his fingers to look over the design. “Besides, I didn’t get you a ring for our mock wedding.”

Shireen leaned against him, putting on her own necklace and wrapping her arms around him. “You can always get me one for our real wedding.”

Rickon pressed a kiss to her hair. “You actually want to marry me? I’m only sixteen.”

“Well, not _now_ ,” Shireen said. “Later.”

“Alright,” Rickon chuckled, hugging her tight against his chest. “Later.”

The bonfires lit up the sky moments later, erupting into large flaming mounds. Shireen leaned back against Rickon, watching the fire. The warmth of the flames washed over them. One of the bonfires was declared the ‘winner,’ and they looked on as the crown of winter roses was raffled away. Someone declared a Queen of Love and Beauty, and Shireen grinned up at Rickon.

“Tell me you didn’t actually try to win that for me,” she said.

“Okay,” Rickon said. “I didn’t actually try to win that for you.”

Shireen nudged an elbow into his ribs. “Rickon!”

“Well, you said you liked it,” Rickon said. “And I’d like to get you things that you like.”

Twisting to face him, Shireen looked him in the eyes. “I’d really like a kiss.”

“Your wish is my command,” Rickon said. He leaned forward and kissed her gently. Shireen pressed into him, and Rickon lifted her into his lap, holding her as close as possible. Deepening the kiss as much as they dared, Shireen continued to lean into him. When, the light of the bonfires started to die down, Rickon finally pulled away, tucking her into his chest as the festival finally came to an end.


End file.
